Healthier lemon poppy seed muffins are just the way to start your day! Moist, tender, and citrusy with a buttery almond streusel topping taste delicious and are made with healthier ingredients like Greek yogurt and whole-grain flour.

Lemon lovers, this recipe is for you! Lemon always reminds me of my grandmother because she loves all things lemon, and I think she'd approve of these lemon poppy seed muffins, too. Citrus is always a great way to brighten up cold winter days, especially when baking is involved!

Why You'll Love These Healthier Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

These lemon poppy seed muffins are like your favorite bakery muffin, with a moist, tender, crumb that's full of poppy seeds and bursting with lemony flavor, and covered in a crumbly, buttery, almond streusel topping that has the perfect amount of crunch. Because no muffin should go without streusel topping.

They're also made a bit healthier than your standard muffin recipe. I swapped more than half of the flour for white whole wheat flour to add more fiber and nutrients without weighing them down. I also used half Greek yogurt and half avocado oil for a light, fluffy muffin with a little extra protein. Buttermilk keeps things extra rich and moist without using a ton of butter. They still have some sugar and white flour, because they are muffins, after all. But They're not quite to cupcake territory.

How To Make Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

These muffins use the classic muffin method:

Combine the dry ingredients (flours, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, salt and lemon zest) in a bowl.
Combine all the wet ingredients (eggs, buttermilk, yogurt, oil, lemon juice, almond extract, and lemon extract) in a separate bowl.
Combine with wet with the dry, mixing until just combined and moistened, leaving a few lumps.
Make the super easy streusel - no cutting in butter here. Just mix all of the ingredients with a touch of melted butter.
Fill muffin tins ⅔ full with batter and top with the streusel topping.
Bake at 425°F for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Tips for Making Perfect Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Try not to overmix the batter. Too much mixing causes dense, tough muffins with little tunnels. The batter should be just moistened, and lumpy batter is totally fine!
Don't overbake. Another cause for tough, dry muffins is over-baking. As soon as the toothpick comes out clean, take them out of the oven!
If you have whole wheat pastry flour, you can use all whole wheat flour instead of 1 cup all-purpose. You can also use all-purpose for all of the flour, if you'd like.
The lemon extract is optional, but highly recommended for the best lemon flavor!

More Healthy Muffin Recipes

If you're in the baking mood this weekend (I always am in the winter!), whip up a batch of these healthier lemon poppy seed muffins to enjoy for breakfast or snack on throughout the week. They keep well on the counter or in the fridge for a few days or can be frozen.

If you made this recipe, please leave a star rating in the comments!

Healthier Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Print Recipe

Author: Kaleigh
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 15 min
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 18 muffins 1x
Category: breakfast
Method: baked
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale

For the muffins

1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ tbsp poppy seeds
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp lemon zest
2 large eggs
¾ cup buttermilk
¾ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
¼ cup avocado oil (or other neutral tasting oil)
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 ½ tsp almond extract
2 tsp lemon extract (optional)

For the streusel topping

5 tbsp granulated sugar
Pinch salt
⅓ cup white whole wheat flour
¼ cup sliced almonds
3 tbsp butter, melted

Instructions

Heat oven to 425°F. Line a standard muffin tin with liners, or spray generously with oil.
In a large bowl, combine flours, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Whisk to combine.
In another bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk, yogurt, oil, lemon juice, almond extract and lemon extract until smooth.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently fold in with a spatula until the batter is just moistened and blended. It may be a bit lumpy, that's okay.
Scoop batter into prepared muffin tin. Fill the cups ⅔ of the way full.
In another small bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the streusel topping.
Sprinkle topping evenly over the muffin batter.
Bake muffins 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes before removing muffins to a cooling rack.

Notes

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature 2-3 days or in the refrigerator up to 5 days. Muffins may also be frozen.
Try not to over-mix the batter. Too much mixing causes dense, tough muffins with little tunnels. The batter should be just moistened, and lumpy batter is totally fine!
Don't overbake. Another cause for tough, dry muffins is over-baking. As soon as the toothpick comes out clean, take them out of the oven!
If you have whole wheat pastry flour, you can use all whole wheat flour instead of 1 cup all-purpose. You can also use all-purpose for all of the flour, if you'd like.
The lemon extract is optional, but highly recommended for the best lemon flavor!